The Uprise of Video Walls in Live Music: distracting at least, destructive at best

A small, but current wave of no-phones policies highlights the scene’s underlying battle with digital screens and enjoying the present moment. A night on the dancefloor has turned into a social media ad campaign. With party goers holding phones up during key moments of sets, and venues sacrificing an immersive environment in the hopes of viral posts and views. Naturally, when the little camera-covering stickers come out at the door, I already know the crowd is more immersed in the music and their experience. However, a no-phones policy is just the start of the critical sustainability shifts we need to see in the live music industry.

What’s happening

The dance floor has been a tool to connect to music, to oneself, and to others. With large video walls becoming more commonplace in big budget venues, we see dancefloor culture shifting away from its core. So, what is the environmental impact when screens, both large and small, become a focal point in an audio-based industry? A recent report conducted by the MIT Climate Machine on industry-wide impacts on climate change by the entertainment and music sector emphasizes careful planning and stage design to slow and reverse the rapid rise in the number and increasing size of video walls.

Part of the allure of experiencing live music is the chance to share it with other people, dance around, be silly, even sexy… and maybe turn some of those fellow fans into friends. Music has always been a connector, right? Video-walls impact the crowds’ experience by redirecting energy away from the dancefloor, especially at the massive scales seen at Afterlife, Tomorrowland, Ultra, and EDC. I don’t know about y’all but I came here to dance not to watch ‘viral’ visuals on a skyscraper screen.  As electronic music purists we’re already wary of the cultural impact, but what about the environmental impact? Let’s get into the price when it comes to our planet.

The Planet Pays (and ultimately we do too)

From mega-festivals to artist tours, screens are quite literally taking over the audio experience, and the additional tech-transportation largely depends on fossil fuel; trucking and logistics contribute 16% (63,032 tonnes CO2e) of total emissions for a single show in the US, highlighting the significant impact of production mobility alone. Take into account the energy consumed to power the production, and you’ve accounted for nearly 20% of total carbon emissions for a single show. 

What we can do

🟢 Refuse: Opt out of using large screens, especially on tour

🟢 Reduce: Switch to electric-powered fleet for production mobility, and for remote, non-urban events use solar-powered energy instead of fossil-fuel-based generators (shoutout to our friends at PiKiP!)

🟢 Reuse: Don’t produce new, data-heavy files for visual production. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the production of the perfect party, it’s not as easy to understand the party’s impact. For help with transitions away from fossil-based live music events, start with the Bye Bye Plastic Quick Scan!